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Dollywood employee discovers 'divine warning' on fire-ravaged Bible page in Tennessee
Trevor Cates walks through the smoldering remains of the fellowship hall of Banner Missionary Baptist Church Tuesday as he inspects damage after a wildfire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. (Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

Dollywood employee discovers 'divine warning' on fire-ravaged Bible page in Tennessee

A Dollywood employee says he was helping the theme park's grounds team clean up from the ravaging Tennessee wildfires when he discovered something that gave him "goosebumps."

Laying soaking wet beneath a bench, Isaac McCord found a page ripped from the Bible. Not all of the verses on the lone sheet were legible, but the verses that were clear enough to make out seemed ominously relevant. According to a Facebook post by McCord, the verses read:

Joel 1:15

The day of the LORD is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!

Joel 1:19

To you, LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

Joel 1:20

Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. ...

Joel 2:1

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

"I was like, 'holy crap,'" McCord told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

McCord called on his co-worker, Misty Carver, to come have a look.

"We were, like, this is unreal, this is unbelievable. When we had both fully read it, we looked at each other — and I will never forget this moment — we both burst into tears. I was ghost white, and we just prayed. There was nothing else to do," McCord said.

"Still to this moment, almost four hours after the fact, I don't have words for it," he added.

McCord posted a picture of the page on Facebook, along with the hashtag, "PrayForGatlinburg."

One commenter on McCord's post wrote: "It looks like God is speaking." Another called it a "divine warning."

So far, the wildfires have claimed at least three lives and left thousands of acres scorched.

A National Park Service spokeswoman said Tuesday night that the fires in and around Great Smoky Mountain National Park were "human caused."

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